Americans Abroad

Keller, Hotspur best Friedel and Rovers 2-1 on fluke goal.

By Robert Wagman (in Washington, D.C.),
Christopher Courtney (in Germany),
Joel Lange (in England),
Willy Calderon (in England)
and Mark Flannery (in France)
SoccerTimes

(Monday, October 7, 2002) -- Brad Friedel had to work harder, but it was his United States men's goalkeeping partner Kasey Keller who came out on top, thanks to a last-minute fluke goal yesterday.

Tottenham Hotspur with Keller in net prevailed over Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League match when Jamie Redknapp "mis-kicked" a ball over Friedel in the 89th minute.

Tottenham jumped out into an early lead thanks to a fine goal from Robbie Keane in the sixth minute. Rovers midfielder Tugay lost possession and the ball came to Keane who took the ball in stride, left his marker standing, and struck a tremendous left-foot drive which caught the top corner past a helpless Friedel.

Both Keller and Friedel were called upon to make first-half saves with the run of play definitely in Spurs' favor. Rovers made changes at halftime, inserting Egil Ostenstad and Keith Gillespie, and came out firing. In the 59th minute, Rovers equalized after Tugay played the ball down the line to David Dunn. Dunn's lovely flick released Ostenstad who won a race with Keller for the ball and the Norwegian international finished well to make it 1-1.

The responsibility for keeping Blackburn in the game then fell to Friedel who made an outstanding saves to deny Redknapp. Teddy Sheringham's pass sent Redknapp through on goal, but as he tried to take the ball past Friedel, the American stuck in a hand to snatch possession.

Friedel then used his feet for another top stop after Keane himself unmarked with the ball on the penalty spot, and grabbed Redknapp's effort from distance.

In the 89th minute, Spurs' Steffen Iversen broke loose on a long run and crossed to Redknapp in the middle. With Friedel coming out to cut down the angle, Redknapp slipped and fell as he attempted to shoot, with the mis-kicked ball slicing in an arc over Friedel for the 2-1 lead.

Redknapp termed the winner "the flukiest goal of my career."

All three losses for Rovers (3-3-3, 12 points) have come after conceding late goals. They were clearly tired following a Thursday night UEFA Cup match against Sofia in Bulgaria in which Blackburn led 3-0, gave up three goals in the final 24 minutes for a 3-3 draw. However, with the aggregate even at 4-4, Rovers advanced to second round because of scoring more goals on the road in the two-match series.

Blackburn scored two first half goals and had another disallowed, and Friedel was strong in goal. Rovers added a third goal early in the second half and seemed on the way to an easy victory, but things changed in the 60th minute when Sofia coach Stoytcho Mladenov inserted Bulgarian under-21 captain Emil Gargorov and Brazilian striker Agnaldo.

Six minutes later, an unmarked Grgorov headed home a ball at the far post from Svetoslav Petrov right-side cross. Five minutes later, it was Gargorov who crossed to Agnaldo at the far post for an almost identical goal.

Blackburn had several chances for a fourth goal, but with two minutes to play, Gargorov fired home the equalizer with a penalty kick to make it 3-3 after Velizar Dimitrov was fouled in the penalty area by Lucas Neill.

It took riot police to get the British side off the field safely.

Back in the Premier League, Arsenal (7-0-2, 23) continued its league-leading pace yesterday by sounding defeating Sunderland 3-1. Sunderland boss Peter Reid was fired today with the club tied for 16th place at 2-5-2 with eight points.

U.S. midfielder Claudio Reyna was solid in central midfield for Sunderland, but he and his teammates were helpless to stop the Arsenal juggernaut. The match was effectively over after Nwankwo Kanu scored in the third and ninth minutes.

Reyna made some lovely through passes, but when he did, his targets were quickly lost possession.

On Saturday, U.S. striker Jovan Kirovski did not play, but Stern John, a former forward for Major League Soccer's Columbus Crew, scored twice for Birmingham City in a 2-1 defeat of West Ham United.

Earlier in the week, Kirovski did start as John found net three times to spark City to a 3-2 decision over Leyton Orient 3-2 in the Worthington Cup's second round. Kirovski came off in the 70th minute.

In England's First Division, U.S. midfielder Eddie Lewis went the distance for Preston North End which forged a 1-1 draw in a defensive struggle with Bradford. In the final moments, North End thought it had a winner when Chris Lucketti's flying header of a Lewis cross found the net, but the play was judged to be offside.

American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann has a calf injury suffered last weekend and did not train this week or dress for Reading which defeated Grimsby 3-0.

U.S. midfielder John Thorrington continues to be out of favor at Huddersfield Town. He started Saturday's match against Port Vale on the bench, entering in the 75th minute with the match deadlocked at 2-2 which is how it ended.

With American Tony Sanneh dominant in the right midfield, FC Nürnberg took a first half lead, but fell 2-1 at Hertha Berlin. Berlin's furious late counterattack led to a pair of goals by Brazilian striker Marcelinho.

Sanneh made a number of runs into the offensive end, but was found more in defensive role thoughout the match.

U.S. defender Gregg Berhalter was equally culpable as his fellow Energie Cottbus backs in a 4-0 loss to powerful Kaiserslautern, 4-0.

In the 2 Bundesliga, American defender Cory Gibbs, who has been recovering from a serious hamstring injury, saw his first action since the season opener when he entered in the 75th minute of St. Pauli's 0-0 draw with Oberhausen.

In third-division action, American Joe Enochs went the whole way in central midfield, helping Osnabrück to a 2-0 victory over Chemnitzer FC.

U.S. defender John O'Brien is still sidelined with an Achilles injury. He did not dress for Ajax's 2-1 home win over league rival Feyenoord Rotterdam yesterday or the midweek 0-0 draw at Norwegian champion Rosenborg BK. PSV Eindhoven and Ajax are tied for first at 6-0-1 with 19 points.

U.S. defender Greg Vanney did not dress for Bastia which lost 2-0 to Nice.

The fate of American defender Oguchi Onyewu at Metz continues in the hands of the so-called "Federal Council," a committee of the French Football Association charged with overseeing the operation of several French teams who are in dire financial condition, including Metz. The Council has refused to approve Onyewu's contract and an initial appeal has been rejected.

Metz is now appealing to a higher authority. Meanwhile, Onyewu continues to train with Metz though he is not being paid and officially he is not a member of the team.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent and can be e-mailed at bobwagman@soccertimes.com. Christopher Courtney is an American living in Mainz, Germany, and can be contacted at yanksgermany@yahoo.com.